Department of Psychology, University of Bath

The relationship between placement instability and mental health among care-experienced children and young people: UK systematic review and meta-analysis | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core The relationship between placement instability and mental health among care-experienced children and young people: UK systematic review and meta-analysis

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Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1192/bjp....

@uniofbath.bsky.social

#research #mentalhealth #careexperiences #socialcare #fostercare #youngpeople #children

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They are calling for:
💙 Policy and practice changes to minimise placement moves wherever possible
💙 Accessible evidence-based mental health support for care-experienced young people
💙 Better collaboration between local authorities & services
💙 Improved support for foster carers

(3/5)

A consistent link between placement changes and mental health difficulties, including self-harm, behavioural difficulties & psychiatric diagnoses.

A likely bidirectional relationship, where placement changes can both contribute to and result from mental health difficulties.

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Moving between foster homes or other placements is a common experience for children in care.

📊 Based on 15 UK studies with nearly 7,000 young people, researchers found:

Screen shot of the paper "The relationship between placement instability and mental health among care-experienced children and young people: UK systematic review and meta-analysis" on a pink background

New research from our department!

Children in care who experience multiple placement moves are more than twice as likely to face mental health difficulties, according to new research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

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Our department was recently awarded a Gold Green Impact award and we also came top of the leaderboard 🥳

Our Green Team has put a lot of effort into various green initiatives. In particular gardening and re-wilding the green space that surrounds 10 West.

Well done Green Team 🌿

#environment #eco

Association of childhood mental health and cognition with longitudinal patterns of cannabis problems in adolescence | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core Association of childhood mental health and cognition with longitudinal patterns of cannabis problems in adolescence - Volume 55

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⚠️ Behavioural challenges such as ADHD at age 10 strongly predicted early and high-risk cannabis use

✅ Findings highlight the importance of early prevention and mental health support

Read the paper for free via the link in our bio: doi.org/10.1017/S003...

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🚸 The study followed over 6000 young people from childhood

🔍 Identified 5 distinct patterns of cannabis use problems from age 15-24. Patterns differed based on the severity of problems, and whether they started earlier or later in adolescence

Screen shot of the paper "Association of childhood mental health and cognition with longitudinal patterns of cannabis problems in adolescence" on a purple background

💨 New research from the Addiction and Mental Health group explores childhood risk-factors for later cannabis-related problems in adolescence.

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Pink and purple background with the text 'welcome new and returning students' with the University of Bath Department of Psychology logo

A warm welcome to all of our new and returning students! We hope you have a fantastic academic year!

#studentlife #psychology #bathuk

Director of our new Bath MHRG, Dr Pamela Jacobsen, said: "Most mental health problems start young but too many go unrecognised or untreated. By improving life chances for young people in this neglected region, we aim to make the Bath MHRG a beacon of innovation in applied mental health research."

ABSTRACT Under the long-standing backdrop of the climate crisis, would communication about acute energy crises encourage the public’s support for policies facilitating the adoption of renewable energy technologies? Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we conducted a survey experiment in the United Kingdom (N = 2,760) in early 2024 to test the effects of three messages (energy affordability, energy independence, climate change vs. control) aimed to encourage support for renewable adoption policies. We find that across all respondents, the climate-change and energy-affordability messages increase policy support, while the effect of the energy-independence message is nonsignificant. The energy independence message increased policy support among the political center-right but not among the political left; it also increased policy support among those not concerned about climate change, but not among the climate-concerned. Contrary to expectations, the energy affordability message increased policy support among moderate-to-high-income respondents but not low-income respondents.

New article!

From climate crisis to energy crisis: foster public support for renewable energy transition through framing by Catherine Y. Chen, @vreben.bsky.social, @lwhitmarsh.bsky.social & Cäzilia Loibl

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

😊 Delighted to announce I'll be a Lead Author for ch.8 of @ipcc.bsky.social's Seventh Assessment Report, alongside 663 experts from 111 countries, as part of Working Group III.

Analysis by @carbonbrief.org shows increasing diversity of IPCC authorship: tinyurl.com/462pvby9

#IPCC #ClimateReport

Image of hands in a heart shape with text over the top that says "postdoc celebration week" with a speech bubble of a quote from Professor Laura Smith that reads "I would like to say a HUGE thank you to my fabulous postdocs, Amelia Dennis, Will Smith, Jiahao Eric Yang, and Sachini Weerawardhara. They fill our lab with enthusiasm, ideas, humour, and inspiration, and hold our projects together. They are the heart and soul of our research!”

It's postdoc appreciation week 2025!

Thank you to our amazing postdocs for all of your contributions to the research culture in our department!

This is just one of the thank yous from Laura Smith. You can read more statements from UoB academics here: www.bath.ac.uk/announcement...

#postdoc

We were so grateful to have Nick Jarvis join our department over the summer as a Bath Insights Intern. He achieved so much in such a short space of time and was a key member of our social media team. Nick shares his experiences of being a Bath Insights Intern.

#University #studentlife

Two photographs of Chris Packham speaking to a lecture room full of people, with text overlaid that says his name

Chris Packham recently visited the University of Bath to deliver a public lecture hosted by the Milner Centre for Evolution. During his visit, a few of our researchers were fortunate enough to meet with him and share all about the work we do. As we are huge fans of Chris' work, it was such an honour

Dr Catherine Butler from our department led the organisation of the University of Bath stall at Bath Pride last weekend, with support from lots of wonderful people across the university.

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

#lgbt #pride #universityofbath

Our students have a great experience with us. We are really proud to see this reflected in the league tables.

⭐️ Top 75 in the QS World University Rankings by subject for Psychology.
⭐️ 4th in the Complete University Guide UK for Psychology.
⭐️ 4th in the Guardian University Guide UK for Psychology.

It's not too late to register for our upcoming webinar exploring the power of mixed methods in #mentalhealth #research.

Featuring insights from a newly published BMJ Mental Health paper by ECRs & a panel of expert voices across the research landscape!👇
mentalhealthresearch.org.uk/advancingmix...

A picture of Nayana, a BSc Psychology student at the University of Bath with a screen shot of the case study about her experience that reads 'settling in and finding my voice'

Nayana Jaidev has been studying with us on the BSc (Hons) Psychology. You can read her experiences of studying with us at @uniofbath.bsky.social - www.bath.ac.uk/case-studies...

#Psychology #studentlife #belongatbath

The Department of Psychology @psychologybath.bsky.social is pleased to have held its first External Advisory Board this week. It's made up of external members from key industries and sectors and academics in the department, aiming to enhance student learning and employability! #collaboration

A screenshot of the All in the Mind website cover for the episode 'the Psychology of Curiosity at Cheltenham Science Festival'. The text around this image says 'listen now' and 'featuring Dr Gosia Goclowska'

Dr @ggoclowska.bsky.social from our department features on BBC Radio 4's All In The Mind. In this episode from the Cheltenham Science Festival she chats about her research on the more unusual emotions we experience such as curiosity, awe and surprise.

Listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

A photo collage of the performers at the comedy show, the lighter side of research, and photos of Luca Hargitai, Joshua Tenn, and Caitlin Naylor performing. Overlayed text reads 'Doctoral Festival of Ideas. The lighter side of research'

As part of the @uniofbath.bsky.social‬ Doctoral Festival of ideas, three of our PhD students, Caitlin Naylor, Luca Hargitai, and Joshua Tenn, took their work to the stage in the form of a comedy performance for the Lighter Side of Research event.

#research #comedy #studentlife #phdlife

Neuro-Normative Epistemic Injustice – Consequences for the UK Education Crisis and School Anxiety - Emmie Fisher, Keren MacLennan, Sinéad Mullally, Jacqui Rodgers, 2025 The UK education system is failing to meet needs, leading to an attendance and school anxiety crisis. However, the system faults those disproportionately and mo...

Our brand new paper, led by our incredible PhD student Emmie, has just been published: 'Neuro-Normative Epistemic Injustice – Consequences for the UK Education Crisis and School Anxiety'.

@bathcaar.bsky.social @psychologybath.bsky.social @uniofbath.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

BBC Radio 4 - All in the Mind, The Psychology of Curiosity at Cheltenham Science Festival Claudia Hammond, Major Tim Peake and panel discuss the psychology of curiosity.

Dr Gosia Goclowska from our Department of Psychology features on BBC Radio 4's All In The Mind. In this episode from the Cheltenham Science Festival Dr Goclowska's chats about her research on the more unusual emotions we experience such as curiosity, awe and surprise.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Please follow the Centre for Applied Autism Research - one of our wonderful research centres!

Image of Dr Catherine Butler, a White Woman with short blonde curly hair, with the text 'congratulations Dr Catherine Butler, new University LGBTQ+ Lead'.

'How do you feel about your new role as LGBTQ+ Lead and what do you have planned?' Catherine answered: 'As it is a new role, the first priorities will be to update current policies and documents in this area and conduct a wide scale survey to do a needs-analysis of LGBTQ+ students and staff.'

White text on a purple background, with an image of the pride flag: 'What experience do you have that will help you in this role?' Catherine: 'I have been working in the area of LGBTQ+ for 25 years, including clinically, as a trainer in the private sector, and at various universities.'

'What amazing research are you bringing to your new role?' Catherine: 'I was one of the authors on the BPS guidelines for working with LGBTQ+ clients and have published books, book chapters and articles on LGBTQ+ lived experiences.'

Continuing our Pride celebrations...

Congratulations to Dr Catherine Butler who has been appointed the new University LGBTQ+ Lead. She shared with us how she will be bringing her incredible experiences and research to this role.

#pride #LGBTQ #psychology #research

New study published from researchers in our department.

Happy Pride!

Many of our staff and students conduct research on LGBTQ+ matters. Ciaran Stewart, who is on our MRes Psychology course, tells us about his dissertation topic and why doing this research matters to him.

#pride #psychology #research #studentlife

PowerPoint slide with a dark blue background for the top two thirds of the slide, and a white background for the bottom third. The title reads "Autism and Stimming: Investigating the roles of Sensory Reactivity, Anxiety, and Autonomic Arousal" and the subtitle reads "By Holly Wilkinson. Supervised by Prof Ailsa Russell, Dr Tom Arthur, & Prof Mark Brosnan"

Loved the #PhD Summer Conference hosted by the @psychologybath.bsky.social yesterday - I really enjoyed learning about what all the other PhD students in the department are researching, and had fun delivering my own presentation.